Addiction to credit is in part to blame for current stuation

Listening to Sec. Paulson, Pres. Bush and others as they talk about the potential ramifications of the failure of the House to pass this bailout bill I have had an epiphany of sorts, both about Western culture in general, and about myself.

The part in this passion play that we average joe's play is our addiction to credit. Loans for homes and cars are a necessary evil of sorts, but should we take on a mortgage for a house that can only be afforded by refinancing every couple years as the values go up? Do we need a car that takes a 7 year loan in order to keep the payments 'affordable'?

In business, and here is where I had my own epiphany, are we being successful if it takes a credit line or additional loans to meet payroll or buy basic inventory? When did credit become necessary for day-to-day operations instead of capital investment or the purchase of real property?

The NEED for credit, borrowed money, to meet your daily obligations as an individual, the head of your household, or for your business is WRONG. A rotating line of credit to cover the minor ups and downs of cashflow for business is one thing, but a never ending appetite for borrowed money just to keep the doors open is a failed business - believe me, I know having done it.

This current event is just that, an event. And like the Great Depression (the stock crash which caused it makes today's loss look like speed bump next to Mount Everest), or Black Monday in '87 (20% one day drop), or the Challenger accident, or 9/11 we will survive. We will adjust.

And adjust we must. We must return to the value of EARNING the house, the car, the boat. We must retun to the value of PLANNING and SAVING for our own or our child's education.I hope that we do not see a bailout and that we allow the market to adjust, because history shows it ALWAYS adjusts, we need to keep the 'free' in free market.

Yes, there are politicians to blame, there are corporate fat cats to blame, there are criminals to blame, but we too are to blame. We can toss the politicans out, we can seek the termination of the fat cats, and we can seek the trial and incarceration of criminals, but it will all be for nought if we do not ourselves change our ways.

The Constitution guarantees us the right to the 'pursuit' of happiness, it does not guarantee happiness, nor does it guarantee a home, or health care, or education. We must pursue those on our own.

I predict we will hopefully look back on the events of the past couple weeks and mark it as the turning point for our society where we recognized the danger of living on borrowed money.

Yes, we will look back on this and see it as an important, possibly transformative event, but if history is any guide we will come out of it stronger than before.